


Brothers In Arms

by FallingThunder



Category: The Hobbit RPF
Genre: Death, F/M, Fighting, Humor (hopefully), I never know what to put in these, Napoleonic Wars, Not giving away the relationships yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-26
Updated: 2014-02-26
Packaged: 2018-01-13 21:50:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1241887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallingThunder/pseuds/FallingThunder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a desperate idea and a foolhardy one. Women didn’t fight in the war, Clara knew this. But it was her only escape. The only person she could trust was there, a father figure, a mentor. But would this scheme throw her out of the frying pan and into the fire?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brothers In Arms

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, first off, I’m setting this in the middle of the Napoleonic war and to make things easier I am making Dean English. He can do a perfectly good English accent, so I didn’t think it too hard to imagine!
> 
> It’s not going to be historically correct; I’m giving myself a lot of liberties!
> 
> I’ve recently neglected my other stories a little, but I’ve had several ideas bouncing around my head for a while and this is the start of one of them. I hope it’s easy enough to understand and not too garbled. I’m not writing it in the style of the time; I just want to get this idea out of my head! I’m working on several things at the moment, so updates will turn up in due course!
> 
> Thank you in advance for reading!

I’d never imagined that there would be rain in Spain. I couldn’t say I’d ever thought much about it, I’d just assumed it was always hot. I was wrong, as I found out upon arriving at the army camp. I’d marched there with a small company of men that smelt as bad as they looked – which was _bad,_ I was a well brought up young lady apparently, maybe all normal people smelt this dreadful? No, that was a horrible thing to say. We’ve been on our feet for days; I can’t imagine I smell any better.

The camp was sparse, some yellowing tents put up in the middle of a small town square. I’d been told the public house and inn was putting up the officers; the rest of us were in the tents. We were dismissed by the downtrodden sergeant and I darted away from the rest of the company as they started to make ready to settle for the night.

I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing and that was putting it lightly.

I had a plan, yes, but I didn’t know if it would work. I didn’t know much at all, if I was truthful with myself. Which I wasn’t. I couldn’t be, I had to get away. The truth made me doubt myself, so I ignored it.

All I knew was that I had to find Major McTavish. My neighbor from London, at least before the war began and he joined the army in Spain, taking his family with him. None of my family joined. My father was too old and crippled and my brother thought too much of himself to risk his life. My mother encouraged him to stay at home – her prized child was far too precious to risk. Me? I was assumed dead.

Graham would help me; that was the thought that drove me. I couldn’t go home and face up to reality; I didn’t ever want to do that. I wanted to be away from England and the circumstances in which I’d fled. I’d joined the army. I’d cut my hair to above shoulder length, dressed in loose men’s clothes, spoke as little as I could and deepened my voice when I did. How I managed to pull it off I had no idea, but I was here now, heading up the creaking wooden stairs to the room Graham was supposed to be in. I had done what I was told and followed orders to get to him, having applied as best I could to get into his company.

I stood before his door and knocked with false confidence. Straightening my back as I heard footsteps; worried that there would be someone else in the room with him. I needed to see him on my own to make this work, to plead him to let me stay. I had an envelope in my hands and I tried not to screw it up in my hands. I thought that would be looked down upon, especially if there was another officer in the room. The door opened and familiar face greeted me. Familiar, but different. His features were still the same but there were more lines on his face and there was no smile, just a frown as I handed him the envelope.

My heart was beating wildly and I panicked as he stood back and I entered, quickly looking round to make sure there was no one else in the room. There wasn’t. We were alone.

‘You asked to join my company, Private?’ he asked, staring down at the letter he’d opened.

‘Graham?’ I said tentatively as I removed the cap I was wearing and looked at him. His head turned to me immediately at the use of his name and his eyes widened.

‘It’s not you is it?’ he asked in disbelief ‘Clara?’

I gulped and nodded.

‘What are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that? And this letter, who is Charlie Dawson?’ he questioned, coming to stand in front of me, a softness in his eyes that wasn’t there when he opened the door.

‘Charlie Dawson is me. I joined the army.’ I said and watched him flinch.

‘What the hell are you talking about Clara?’ he hissed, looking confused. I gulped again and took a deep breath.

‘My family thinks I’m dead. Something happened to me, I don’t want to go home. I can’t go home. Or stay in England. I came here to get away, it’s ruining me and I didn’t know what to do. I don’t want to be a woman anymore.’ I said in a rush, my voice cracking on the last word. The frown was back again and he steered me to a chair and made me sit down.

‘This is not the place you should be. War will kill you, let alone being in my company. They send people to us to die, that’s the type of operations we are for. Clara, I won’t let you walk straight to your death. Give this thing up and go home.’ I stared at him blankly.

‘Haven’t you been listening? I _can’t_ go home. He’ll find me. He knows who I am, he’ll do it again and I can’t let that happen Graham, it was so horrible.’ I said, keeping back the tears. I wasn’t one for crying and wasn’t about to start now.

Graham looked concerned now. He knew me well, enough and I wasn’t one to overreact. The fact that I was here should have told him that something was wrong, but I’d said enough now to give him reason to truly worry.

‘He? Do what…Oh shit Clara. You weren’t were you? Please tell me you were not…’ he said trailing off. I knew what he was asking, even if he didn’t want to say it. I couldn’t blame him, I didn’t want to say it either. Telling someone outright that you were raped was a situation I had dreaded, but he had guessed. Although I knew Graham would believe me and not turn me away, actually saying the word was admitting it had ever happened. I wasn’t ready for that.

‘I don’t know what I did to deserve it.’ I whispered as he gripped my hands in his. Rough and calloused as they were I found them comforting. I’d run away as soon as I could. I hadn’t even gone home. I’d just left, stealing what I needed and scrounging the rest. I had no one to tell, no help. Not until now.

‘You didn’t do anything. But Clara, this is not the place for you. Half the men in this company would do the same. More than half. I’d be stupid to let you stay.’

‘Where am I supposed to go?’ I argued, I thought I’d have to beg, I was prepared to. But to my surprise he sighed, got up and went to the door. He opened it and shouted

‘Evans!’

‘Sir?’ a voice replied from downstairs.

‘Who’s with you?’

‘O’Gorman, Turner and Brown.’

‘All of you up here now.’ Graham turned from the door and looked at me. ‘These guys will look after you. They may not be happy about it, but I trust them.’ He said as footsteps stomped up the stairs.

‘Major?’ a voice said as a rugged, dark haired man stepped through the door. His voice was the same as the one who had answered Graham, so I assumed this man was Evans. Next came another of similar height, but his dark hair was longer and curly and his face was good natured as he surveyed the room. He was joined by a shorter man with blonde hair and dirt all over his face. Lastly a shy face peeped through the door and entered. Graham closed the door behind them, eyes moving from me to Graham.

‘Right, let’s get started. This is Captain Luke Evans, Private Aidan Turner, Sergeant Dean O’Gorman and Private Adam Brown.’ Graham said, pointing at each of them in order that they came into the room ‘This is Clara Chambers, but you will know her as Private Charlie Dawson.’ The four newcomers showed various degrees of confusion on their faces. I looked nervously at Graham.

‘What’s this about sir?’ Captain Evans said at last.

‘Miss Chambers has joined the army and has persuaded me to let her stay. You are the only people that I am trusting with this secret. To everyone else she is Charlie Dawson. You _must_ keep her safe. Look after her, I want her kept away from some of the lowlife scum we rub shoulders with. Do not betray my trust or you will be sent on a mission you will not be coming back from, do you understand?’ Graham said sternly.

‘Yes sir.’ They all answered instantly. There was no doubt in it for me, these men were a tight unit and Graham was heading it up. For the first time since leaving England that I felt safe in a room full of men.

‘Now you are all acquainted, please find somewhere to sit. We need to have a talk about how this is going to work.’ Graham said, rubbing his face with his hands.

I sat guiltily on the only chair in the room as Graham and Captain Evans took a seat on the bed and the rest sat on the floor. I would have moved to the floor myself and offered one of my superiors my chair, but my right side was sore from the incident and I knew this was going to be my only rest in semi comfort for a while, so I remained where I was.

Graham rubbed his face as we all stared at him. Or rather, I stared at him, I could feel eyes moving from Graham to me. Slightly daunted I tried not to move, tried not to attract any sort of attention to me. Finally Graham started to speak.

‘Charlie lived on the same road as me in London. She and her mother used to visit my wife…’ he trailed off momentarily before starting again ‘the long and short of it is we became friends. I think she often spent more time at our house than she did at her own.’ He said, catching my eye. I smiled weakly at the memory.

‘Your house was friendlier than mine.’ I said softly. Graham nodded in understanding before continuing

‘She ran into trouble in England. Please ask no more than that. She’s here now. We have light duty for the next few days before orders come in. You are all to take shifts looking after her. Preliminarily I need Brown and Turner around her all the time. You’re all the same rank, it will make sense. O’Gorman and Evans can keep an eye from a distance, as will I. I may call some meetings in due course, but we will wait and see. Brown? You’ve got duty of her for tonight. Turner and O’Gorman can look after her tomorrow. I’ll check in the evening that all is well and Brown can take over for the night shift. Is that alright with everyone?’ he said, phrasing the last sentence like a question, but I knew nobody would dare contest him. I looked round to see nodding heads. I took a deep intake of breath. This was happening, I’d done it. I was still reeling from disbelief that my hair brained plan had worked when everyone began to stand up and leave. Brown waited by the door for me and Graham helped me to my feet, as he had done hundreds of times in London, and held onto my hand for a moment.

‘Clara, if anything happens with these guys, _anything_ , I want you to tell me immediately. I trust them, but at the end of the day they’re young men. They don’t always think with the correct part of the body.’ He said so seriously that I glanced round to where Brown stood. ‘You will be fine, but I want you to know I’m here.’

‘I know Graham, that’s why I came here.’ I said nervously and yawned, letting go of his hands to cover my mouth. He smiled and herded me to the door.

‘Don’t put your hands up to your mouth when you yawn, it makes you look like a lady. And don’t do it in front of an officer.’ Graham said sternly. I nodded quickly and stepped out of his room, pulling on my hat and looking at the young man that looked as worried as I felt.

 


End file.
